NIST team measures best wood-to-pest ratio for design of new composites

Dr. Johan Foster is part of a team of researchers at the National Institutte of Standards and Technology (NIST) that has formed a new flexible, sustainable, nontoxic, and UV light reflective material. This material combines derivatives of two surplus materials--wood pulp and dried-up pieces of tunicates, an invasive pest. Results of this research are described in a new paper published in Advanced Functional Materials. Read more about the research here. (Above photo, courtesy Johan Foster: Tunicates are often found growing in abundance along docks and piers in warm-water locations, far from their native range.)